India's oil trade with Russia a ‘point of irritation'
In an interview with Fox Radio on Thursday, Rubio said India had numerous alternate suppliers, but still chose to buy oil from Russia.
'Like anything in foreign policy, you're not going to align a hundred percent of the time on everything,' Rubio said, while calling the South Asian nation an ally and a strategic partner.
'India has huge energy needs and that includes the ability to buy oil and coal and gas and things that it needs to power its economy like every country does, and it buys it from Russia, because Russian oil is sanctioned and cheap and – meaning they have to – in many cases, they're selling it under the global price because of the sanctions,' he added. 'And that – unfortunately that is helping to sustain the Russian war effort. So it is most certainly a point of irritation in our relationship with India – not the only point of irritation.'
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on imports from India, plus penalties for the country's economic and defense ties with Russia.
He also attacked New Delhi for its ties to Moscow in a post on his Truth Social account. 'I don't care what India does with Russia,' Trump said. 'They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the world.'
Additionally, the US State Department has imposed sanctions on eight Indian companies and five Indian citizens for trading in Iranian oil, petroleum products, and petrochemicals. The companies and individuals have been accused of violating US sanctions under Executive Order 13846, which punishes entities that are found to engage in significant transactions involving Iranian petroleum or petrochemical products.
'These coercive discriminatory actions violate the principles of international law and national sovereignty, representing a modern form of economic imperialism,' the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi said on Thursday. India has not officially commented on these sanctions.
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